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May 26, 2021

Note from the Assistant Managing Editor:

I've been rewatching Bones recently which, if you haven't seen it, pairs an uber-rational forensic anthropologist (Dr. Temperance Brennan) with a grounded Catholic FBI agent (Seeley Booth) in a crime-fighting duo.

While her intellect is impressive, it can be tear-your-hair-out annoying to hear Brennan pontificate because — despite her IQ, her logic, her reliance on the scientific method, and her sola ratio approach — she completely disregards an entire swath of data: namely, the human experience.

In Adam Blai's Introduction to "The Catholic Guide to Miracles," we see someone who has done precisely the opposite.  "I want to be a rational person," he writes, "and the truth is that, given what I have seen, it would be irrational to deny the spiritual world."

This past year has wrought extreme changes — including in education.  I have read about classic English curriculums being replaced with critical race theory propaganda, children chanting to the Aztec god of human sacrifice, and teachers and public officials compiling a threatening list of parents who even appear to question this rhetoric.

What can we do?  "The Catholic pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness and the Catholic understanding of human dignity and the common good provide a framework for dealing with perennial challenges facing humanity," writes Daniel Guernsey, "including the current cultural crises concerning race and gender."  See "The Remedy for 'Canceling' and Division: Catholic Education."

On a lighter note, I enjoyed Thomas Lickona's "Can't Get Your Kids to Mind?  Try the 4 E's."  "At all developmental levels, authoritative parents are the most successful at raising confident, competent, and socially responsible children.  A 15-year-old girl captured the essence of this approach when she described her authoritative parents as "firm but democratic."

Thank you all for your prayers, and God bless you all this week! - Meaghen Gonzalez



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"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire



New Resources


 
Protected, Guarded, and Consecrated in Truth - John Cardinal O'Connor - from A Moment of Grace on the Catechism of the Catholic Church

Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time at sea knows how comforting is the light of a lighthouse.


 
Introduction - The Catholic Guide to Miracles - Adam Blai - from The Catholic Guide to Miracles

Separating the authentic from the counterfeit.


 
Having No Real Friends - John A. Cuddeback - LifeCraft

It is our worst nightmare.


 
The Remedy for 'Canceling' and Division: Catholic Education - Daniel Guernsey - The Catholic Thing

There are key things that Catholic educators should — and should not — do to address hot-button topics like race, gender, and equity.


 
Can't Get Your Kids to Mind? Try the 4 E's - Thomas Lickona - Psychology Today blog

Raising kids is hard work, but it's 10 times harder if they haven't learned to mind you — to do what you ask.


 
Lockdown's End - Theodore Dalrymple - City Journal.

Amid the calamity, some compensations

Editorials of Interest


Bishop Donald Hying: "Our faith calls us to do, to act, to imitate Jesus" - CWR

"I think today we are called to a heroic, apostolic courage," says the Bishop of Madison in discussing his new book Love Never Fails: Living the Catholic Faith in Our Daily Lives. "And that's a good thing. Saints would rejoice to live in a moment like this!"


A Reply to the Discouraged Seminarian: There Are 6,000 Reasons to Remain Catholic. - OnePeter5

My answer has the sincerity of a person who has himself been wounded by members of the hierarchy, who has been denied speaking platforms on account of upholding the traditional Faith, and who has also stared into the abyss of corruption and apostasy that mark the Church on earth in our times — and yet who believes, finds reasons to believe, and, indeed, finds reasons for hope.


A Most Unfortunate Roman Intervention - First Things

Unanimity can never be at the expense of truth, can it?


Detachment - Ignitum Today

When Mary Magdalene finally recognizes Jesus, the Lord says something mysterious: "Don't cling to Me."


Meet the Nun Who Wants You to Remember You Will Die - NY Times

Suffering and death are facts of life: "Everyone dies, their bodies rot, and every face becomes a skull."


13 May 609: Dedication of the Roman Pantheon - Fr. Z's Blog

An account of Boniface IV's exorcism of the temple and the screaming of the demons.


The Bronze Snake of Moses in the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, Milan - LAJ

The Basilica of Saint Ambrose in Milan is surely one of the most interesting and spectacular churches of that venerable primatial See.


'This thing's going to blow up on us': The religious extremism fueling violence in Nigeria - CNA

Escalating bloodshed in Nigeria is fueled in part by religious extremism — and the United States must recognize this in order to achieve peace, says the former U.S. religious freedom ambassador.


Uyghur journalist: 'The Chinese government sees any religion as a threat to its rule' - CWR

For Gulchehra Hoja, the Chinese government's systematic repression of Uyghur Muslims is personal: her mother, father, brother, and more than 20 relatives are detained in "reeducation camps" in Xinjiang.


Efficiency is the Enemy - FS

There's a good chance most of the problems in your life and work come down to insufficient slack. Here's how slack works and why you need more of it.


The Threat of Woke Supremacy - Crisis Magazine

Supremacist movements are evil. This statement is obvious to our modern Western minds when we are speaking of racial supremacy, but ideological supremacy is just as bad, if not worse.


But Is It Safe? - WCC

Not long ago, I heard a psychologist saying that the most important thing in his practice is the safety of his clients.


Anti-Vaccine Doctor Testifies at Senate Homeland Security Hearing on Covid-19 Treatments - YouTube

Watch live as the U.S. Senate examines Covid-19 solutions, focusing on early outpatient treatment in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, December 7, 2020.


Origin of Covid — Following the Clues - Medium

Did people or nature open Pandora's box at Wuhan?


Legalizing Marijuana — Why the Majority Are Often Wrong - NC Register

Be willing to stand in the breach and raise questions. Our society needs more of that.


The Masculine Gentleman - Crisis Magazine

Few boys enjoy the benefit of being raised by the kind of man's man who was my father.


Instead Of Canceling Snow White, Learn To Read Fairy Tales - The Federalist

In Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the prince does have permission to kiss Snow White. He just doesn't get it in writing and signed in triplicate.


On Demons - First Things

According to the Talmud, the demons are more numerous than we are.


The Greatest Christian Novel - First Things

When Dostoevsky wrote his last and greatest novel, The Brothers Karamazov, the revolutionary movement that would lead to Bolshevism was well underway.?


Sybil Ludington - Revolutionary War

Sybil Ludington became famous for her ride to warn the Patriot militia of the British coming, similar to that of Paul Revere, but Sybil was only 16 years old.


St. John Henry Cardinal Newman and
St. Justin Martyr, pray for us

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